Today, I posted a quick video of my refreshed writing space in my office (and cute Ciri clips) to share with you. The video goes through some of my favorite authors on my shelf (spoilers: Lewis Carroll, Kate Forsyth, JR Ward, and Sherrilyn Kenyon are just a few), my PC set up, and a quick look at how I store my work digitally.

Make sure to swing past my Patreon to check out the postcard offer I have running right now and to say thank you to my patrons, they are making this month's vlogs and blogs possible!

As promised, I have uploaded and scheduled a new short story themed around winter, Christmas, and Hanukkah to release every Saturday in December. These are PATREON ONLY posts and will not be released to non-Patrons through my feed. Schedule of titles and a one-line synopsis at the end of this post.The holidays and winter in general is one of my favorite settings to write in. There's so much joy, warmth, and mischief to be had, but on the flip-side, anything dark becomes darker in contrast.

I hope you enjoy these stories and I will see you in the new year!Safe holidays!Eliza

12/1: One Last Christmas (A woman's musing in the aftermath of a family holiday)12/8: A Snowy Hanukkah (A quiet moment between a granddaughter and her grandpa)12/15: Bran and Jannelle (Two siblings find they way back to each other after years apart)12/22: Light, Fluffy, Cold (A delightful winter-themed poem) 12/29: Cocoa or Tea? (An unexpected encounter with a sibling's lab partner)

Happy holiday season everyone!It's been a LONG time since I have posted a vlog, but there's now one up on my YouTube channel! This blog post is a supplemental post for the video with the highlights and links inline. If you've watched the video... there won't be a ton new here, but feel free to stick around anyway. <3

I have re-done my office and I will be releasing a vlog for both the craft side and the writing side in the coming weeks.

I have not been writing a ton in the past six months, most of what I've been doing is admin, marketing, business work. I'm going to get back to actual writing no later than January!

I have been diagnosed with Narcolepsy and am working through the medication changes, vlog going deeper into that coming soon.

The giveaway for Everyday Adventures digital codes has ended, to the three below, claim your copies before December or I'll re-pick winners. A new giveaway is coming in the new year.

Winner 1: @cmh9952

Winner 2: @sosoverytired

Winner 3: @jstonecity

4 The Words has been updated and it's AMAZING! I can't wait to get back into it. (Not sponsored)

Both journals and paperback books are for sale in my Etsy shop; PaperAdventures3 AND there's free shipping on select items for the holiday!

There was a Combustion giveaway at the end of the video... so lets also put one here. The first person to comment on this blog post and tell me what you're looking forward to in 2019, I will send you a download code for Combustion.

Today, Everyday Adventures Part 2 was released on Amazon! *cheering*
This is the second half of the full Channillo series, now readable offline and (coming soon) in paperback.
Since this is such a momentous occasion, I wanted to celebrate with a giveaway.
Share this post with your friends and social media to help spread the Everyday Adventure love!
-E
If you're ready to buy the ebook now, here's the link. The Paperback version will be available within a few days.

IT'S FINALLY HERE!I am SO excited to announce that 'Magic Wept' by Andi Van is ready for my eyes to feast! This is book 2 in the 'Mages' Guild Trilogy' and I have been waiting SO LONG. No more waiting, let's let Andi get into it! Let's start with a synopsis.

Synopsis

Jorget has no surname, no blood kin, and no hope of using his magical ability while he remains at Archai Castle, where the mad king reigns. With magic still outlawed, every experiment he performs could cost him his life. So when his mentor, the royal priest Denekk, is ordered to send Jorget on a journey to find a magical weapon, the young man jumps at the chance to prove himself. What he doesn’t realize is that things are never as simple as they seem.Kelwin Tiovolk has settled into life in the Mages’ Guild of the Dragon’s Claw with his beloved, guild leader Tasis Kadara. But when word arrives that the king is searching for something to destroy the guild, he knows he has to leave behind the comfort of his new home to save what Tasis worked so hard to rebuild.With enemies around every corner, Jorget and Kelwin need to pull off a miracle in order to save the guild. Luckily, they’re more than ready to stand strong together and keep what’s precious to them safe.

Someone get me a fainting couch, honestly. I'm so ready for this book! If anyone wants to do a read-along on release day, yeah. let's do it! Back to Andi, it's time for the Master behind the mind.

A little bit about Andi Van

Andi Van is a foul-mouthed troublemaker who lives near San Diego with a baseball bat that’s forever being used for things other than baseball, and a fondness for rum and caffeine (though not necessarily together).Andi is fluent in three languages (English, sarcasm, and profanity), and takes pride in a highly developed—if somewhat bizarre—sense of humor.

Okay okay, stop teasing me. Tell me more about Magic Wept! I want details, how did these characters come to be, where did the idea for the story come from. Most importantly... GIVE ME SOMETHING TO READ!

A History of Magic

Once upon a time (the early 1990s), before the dawn of the internet as we know it, there was a BBS (that's "Bulletin Board System", and we had to use actual phone lines to dial into them via modem) in which I ran a role-playing group set in a mages' guild. My character's name was Trivintaie, and she was a redheaded mage with a penchant for mischief.

Yes, she was THAT Triv. The same Triv that starts off the whole Mages' Guild Trilogy.

When I decided to revive her and write the trilogy, I knew I couldn't make her the main character. Her time had passed, and too many other people had taken part in creating her guild for it to really be mine. So I set the trilogy a thousand years in the future and gave her world a new hero.

What I didn't expect was that I'd pack it with such a diverse set of characters, most of which reflecting some part of the rainbow. It was completely unintentional, but once I realized it was happening, I was thrilled. One of my goals was to give young adults—and adults not quite so young—characters that maybe they could identify with in a way they might not have been able to before.

So I'd like to introduce you all to some of the new characters in the second book of the trilogy, Magic Wept.

But before that, I wanted to let you all know that there is indeed a giveaway. I will be randomly generating three winners on September 30th, all of whom will receive a plush purple cat (because nothing says magic like a K'yerin plushie—Tasis' familiar is just full of himself enough to agree with that sentiment) and an ebook copy of Magic Wept. You can enter the giveaway HERE!

And now, on to the characters!

Gisik isn’t seen much in Magic Wept, but he’s definitely talked about. While we already have an antagonist in the form of the mad king of Archai, Gisik, if we want to put it in gamer terms, is the boss. He’s the big bad guy. And while he doesn’t represent a portion of the rainbow like so many of the other characters, he does represent evil in the ultimate good-versus-evil scenario.

Gisik is a dragon. The other dragons seem to want to do good things and be good to people. Gisik…well, not so much for him.

This doesn’t make him less important than the good guys. He is in fact just as important, if only because his twisted personality gives the rest of their world a scale in which to measure against. There’s long been a question on whether we would know what ‘good’ actually was if we didn’t have ‘evil’ to show us the opposite side of the coin.

​“Your uncle, then,” Emlynn mused with a nod. “And he is—was—the black dragon?”“Yes,” the dragon said. They shoved the last of the apple slice they’d been holding into their mouth and began to lick at their fingers. “He was not kind. Mean. Greedy. He was angry our mother did not want him. He started a war to try to force her to his side.” Yldost sighed and shook their head. “He tried that before. His tricks were never the same but the results always were. He destroys. He is… chaos.”“What do you mean?” Kelwin asked, reaching out with his fork to spear a slice of apple, though instead of eating it he offered it to Yldost. The dragon trilled and pulled it free of the tines, munching happily. Jorget was pretty sure he’d never seen such an adorable thing in his entire life.Yldost chewed, but from the way the ridges above their eyes drew together, they were probably thinking. “Vashk is the sea,” they finally said. “I am the sky. Gisik is chaos.”“Wait, I think I get it,” Jorget said suddenly, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. “It’s kind of like the dragons are elementals. Vashk is the sea, specifically the Western Sea. I’m assuming you’re the Western Sky.”“The fault in your logic is that chaos does not have a location,” Emlynn pointed out softly. “It is intangible.”“Our siblings are like Vashk and I,” Yldost interjected. “Specific things. It is different for our elders. Our father is the void. Our mother is… life?” They thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, life. The elders… they are things that must be for magic to exist. Even chaos is necessary, but Gisik had grown warped.”“And what happens if he’s dead?” Tasis asked, moving to rest his chin in his hands as he watched the dragon step into the pie itself to find another large slice of apple. “Also, you should be eating all of the pie, not just the apples in the filling.”“The apples are the best part,” Yldost informed him. “And if Gisik did die, he will be reborn. Perhaps in the same form. Perhaps in another. That is how it works. The elders do not stay dead. They only change.”“That sounds familiar,” Kelwin murmured, and Jorget nodded in agreement. That sounded like what Vashk did to the guild members who’d been killed.

Okay, so other than dancing in my seat, I'M READY TO READ! Who's with me?! Alright, reality time here. Go support this brilliant author with a fantastic series. I can't wait to see you back here and chat it over. Let's discuss in the comments below and on all other social media. Happy reading!-E

A long and heart-felt thank you to all of my Patrons, followers, and friends and family! Combustion (or as you know it, The Society) is now live on Amazon for purchase. You can pick up the edited/formatted/kick-ass covered ebook for $.99 today.

If you did read the story in the past and wouldn't mind leaving a review on Amazon or GoodReads, you'd rock my world. You can also find a direct link to the story in the Library.

Also... random trivia for you. As of me writing this, Combustion is ranked both #96,804 and #24 in the Amazon shop. Silly metrics. ;-)

Howdy folks!It's E here, and I wanted to stop by and give a quick update on some of the stuff that will be closing out the summer. I am also putting together something special for all of my Patrons and I hope to be able to share that soon. Let's get right into it!

First, Steamposium 2018 is around the corner! (October)

I will be busting my little behind to get Everyday Adventures Part 2 ready and printed along with Part 1 and the complete anthology to bring with me to the event.

I will also be bringing my handmade journals from my Etsy shop to sell and take custom order as well.

Secondly, I just placed my order with a book cover designer for The Society short story! I'm so excited! This is the first cover I have not designed myself, but I didn't feel I could do this one justice and wanted to make sure it was perfect.

Thirdly, my Etsy shop is getting a make over in the coming weeks with new products, new banners, and a few design tweaks. Stay tuned!

Fourth, 'Paper Adventures' as my Esty shop is called, will be joining ImaginaryAdventures.me with its very own blog! I can't wait to share my process, learning, and finished goodies with you all.

Lastly, I wanted to give an update on the Keepers series. Keeper's 1 is in query mode still, Keepers 2 is in a holding pattern while I give my brain a break from it after I finished draft 1, and the side novel I began writing is in progress!

World famous writers deserve all the praise and admiration for a reason. They can create fictional worlds that immerse thousands and millions of readers, stories that keep everyone interested and excited, characters, in which everyone is able to find a part of themselves.But sometimes it’s not only the literary talent that can make people talk about an author. Some writers are known to have quite curious or sometimes even completely strange habits.That’s what the infographic below is going to tell you about. We’ve collected information about 20 famous writers that have interesting quirks. Some of those weird habits are connected to their craft, while the others are just things those authors did.And it’s up to you to decide whether all those strange habits are real, or if some of them are just another piece of fiction the author made us believe in.